UK Stocks-Factors to watch on April 14

April 14 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 index is seen opening up 3
points, or 0.05 percent, on Thursday, according to financial bookmakers. For
more on the factors affecting European stocks, please click on
* The UK blue chip index closed up 120.50 points, or 1.9 percent, at
6,362.99 points on Wednesday, led by mining and banks stocks, as strong Chinese
export data helped to subdue concern over growth in the world's second-largest
economy.
* TATA STEEL/THYSSENKRUPP: India's Tata Steel and Germany's
Thyssenkrupp are in talks about a joint venture among the options
being considered for their European steel operations, Germany's Rheinische Post
said on Wednesday.
* ANGLO AMERICAN: Mining companies and private equity firms are circling
Anglo American's metallurgical coal assets in Australia, which could be
valued at around $1.5 billion in a sale, several sources familiar with the
matter said on Wednesday.
* ABBEY LIFE: Britain's Legal & General Group PLC and Swiss Re AG
are among firms said to be weighing bids for Deutsche Bank AG's
Abbey Life Assurance Co, sources familiar with the matter said.
* ITV: British commercial TV broadcaster ITV Plc is said to be
pursuing a takeover of Canada's Entertainment One Ltd, Bloomberg
reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
* UK HOUSING: Britain's housing market looks set for a soft patch in the
run-up to June's referendum on European Union membership, surveyors said on
Thursday, forecasting the slowest house price growth in almost a year.
* BREXIT: Britain should stay in the EU "warts and all", the opposition
Labour leader will say on Thursday, making his first big intervention in the
referendum campaign as he seeks to counter criticism he is not doing enough to
persuade his voters to back the "In" campaign.
* COPPER: London copper eased on Thursday, but prices did not stray far from
near two-week highs on the back of this week's better-than-expected Chinese
trade data, which has raised hopes that the world's No. 2 economy may be
stabilising.
* OIL: Oil prices fell on Thursday as OPEC warned of slowing demand and
Russia hinted that there would only be a loose agreement with little commitments
at the upcoming exporter meeting to rein in ballooning oversupply.
* EX-DIVS: Intu Properties, Reckitt Benckiser Group and
Standard Life will trade without entitlement to their latest dividend
pay-out on Thursday, trimming 3.43 points off the FTSE 100 according to Reuters
calculations.
* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
Debenhams PLC Half Year 2016 Earnings Release
Hays PLC Q3 Interim Management Statement Release
Persimmon PLC Trading Statement Release
JD Sports Fashion Full Year Earnings Release
Poundland Group Q4 Pre-Close Trading Statement
Unilever Q1 Trading Statement Release
Burberry Group Full Year Trading Update Release
PZ Cussons Trading update
TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times
> Other business headlines
(Reporting by Aastha Agnihotri in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)